Definitions
7 Definitions
In this Act:
Commonwealth authority means the following:
a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under an Act;
a company in which a controlling interest is held by any one of the following persons, or by 2 or more of the following persons together:
the Commonwealth;
a body covered by paragraph (a);
a body covered by either of the above subparagraphs.
constitutional corporation means a trading, foreign or financial corporation within the meaning of paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution.
corresponding State law, in relation to a State, means a law of that State declared by the Minister, by notice in the Gazette, to be a corresponding State law for the purposes of this Act.
human embryo means a discrete entity that has arisen from either:
the first mitotic division when fertilisation of a human oocyte by a human sperm is complete; or
any other process that initiates organised development of a biological entity with a human nuclear genome or altered human nuclear genome that has the potential to develop up to, or beyond, the stage at which the primitive streak appears;
and has not yet reached 8 weeks of development since the first mitotic division.
hybrid embryo means:
an embryo created by the fertilisation of a human egg by animal sperm; or
an embryo created by the fertilisation of an animal egg by human sperm; or
a human egg into which the nucleus of an animal cell has been introduced; or
an animal egg into which the nucleus of a human cell has been introduced; or
a thing declared by the regulations to be a hybrid embryo.
inspector means a person appointed as an inspector under subsection 33(1).
NHMRC Licensing Committee means the Committee established by section 13.
Secretary means the Secretary of the Department.
spouse, in relation to a person, includes a de facto partner of the person within the meaning of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
State includes the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
the NHMRC means the National Health and Medical Research Council established by the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992.
unsuitable for implantation, in relation to a human embryo, means a human embryo that:
is diagnosed by preimplantation genetic diagnosis as unsuitable for implantation, in accordance with the Ethical guidelines on the use of assisted reproductive technology in clinical practice and research, issued by the CEO of the NHMRC under the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992, as existing from time to time; or
is determined to be unsuitable for implantation in the body of a woman, in accordance with objective criteria specified in guidelines issued by the CEO of the NHMRC under the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 and prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
use includes develop, or development, as the case requires.
woman means a female human.
For the purposes of the definition of human embryo in subsection (1), in working out the length of the period of development of a human embryo, any period when the development of the embryo is suspended is to be disregarded.
A reference in this Act to an embryo (including a human embryo) is a reference to a living embryo.
A reference in this Act to a human egg is a reference to a human oocyte.
A reference in this Act to a human embryo does not include a reference to:
a hybrid embryo; or
a human embryonic stem cell line.
This provision refers to the regulations (declared by the regulations
, prescribed by the regulations
). Made under this Act:
- Research Involving Human Embryos (Corresponding State Law—ACT) Declaration 2018 · Legislative Instrument · under s 7(1)
- Research Involving Human Embryos (Corresponding State Law—NSW) Declaration 2018 · Legislative Instrument · under s 7(1)
- Research Involving Human Embryos (Corresponding State Law—TAS) Declaration 2018 · Legislative Instrument · under s 7(1)
1 more instrument made under this Act are listed on the Act’s overview.
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandumSecond reading speech
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